Weft inserting mechanism for looms



March 7, 1939.

W. FELTON WEI'TT INSERTING MECHANISM FOR LOOMS 2 Sheets-Shet 1 Filed March 9, 1937 Patented Mar. 7, 1939 PAT E N T *FFF W EFT INS'ERTING MECHANISM FOR EOOMS William Felt0n, Bradford Moor, :Bradford, :Eng- .land, .assignor to. David Crabtree and Son Lim- .ite'd, Bradford, England, an English company "Application FMaroh 9, 1937, Serial "No. 3129;834 =In GreatBritain March '15, 1936 .5 Claims. (Cl. 139123) This invention'relates to'weft inserting mechanism of looms in which a reciprocating needle carries said weft in folded form "between -the warp threa'ds'from one side to the otherfof same.

.5 Thus-said weft travels fromits "source of supply forward through'ith'e 'warp attwice the speed of the insertingneedle, thereforemakingthe advancing'motion ofthe weft double'the speed-of the weft supplying :needle. This causes such jerkyaction to the'i-vefti'thatit oftenbreaks and causes great 'delay'in the process of=weaving. To avoid this I make use'of mechanismthatwill -em able the receding motion of the'needle tobe used to commence'th'e withdrawal of weft from'the source of supply immedi'atelythe previously "suppliedweft has been fixed by its advancing folded end being securedto thewarpthreadsat the edges "of the woven fabric. Thus both the advancing and thereturning of the operating needle and its mechanism secure the continued with drawal of the weftfrorn its source of supply (such as from a bundle or cone of coiled thread). To enable this I cause this withdrawal of the weft by the receding actions of the spindle to be'accumulated and then paid out under such conditions that'said'payingout may continue until the hil] advanc ng motion of the spindle has been completed without any intermission except momen-- tarilyat'the times of the changes of direction.

To-clearly describe my invention reference is made in the accompanying sheets of drawings whichare illustrative'thereof, in wh ch:

Fig. 1 is afront elevationof sufiicient of the frame-work and operating mechanism of 'a loom 35 of the type known as a gripperpile or pileiorming loom asto illustrate the application i thereto of our'invention.

Fig. '2 is an end elevation of the parts shown I by Fig. 1 as seen looking'from right to le'ftof said 40 figure.

Fig. 3 is a plan of the parts shown by Fig. 1.

Figs. 4 and 5 are'diagrarnmatical representations of the devices shown by'Figs. 1 to 3 inclupositions, as ishereinafter described.

sive but with certain o'f the parts in'their altered tions of'the n'eedle 3 but at a slower speed asis hereinbefore stated.

This guide-eye 2, carried by'its sliding bracket 2b, is in its extreme'rearward'positionwhenthe eyeZain the needle 3is also in itsrearwa'rd position withits 'eye2a at its outer endreadyior entering" the shed of the'w'arp as s'h'own'by'Figj.

The "Weft thread "5 which extends through the eye 2a of *theneedleS (to be thereby inserted into'the shed of warpthreads i6) 'is withdrawn from Resource of supply "Tto travel'inthe direction'of the arrow a, and at th'e:first"inserti'on*of the doubled strands of weft has its loose end held by any of the usual devices from'wentering said 7 shed.

When the needle adva-nces'to project a loop of weft yarn through the shed, it pays out yarnas'it goes along at the same rate as the rate 'of its progress 'through' the" shed, yarn leading from the source ofsupply T-being drawn intothe shed'as the needle advances. This supply yarn 'niust overtake-the'needle eye za' at the same-rate as the speed of advance of the-eye. Hence'the yarn is drawn into the shed at twice the speed of the advance of the needle. -During the retractive movement 'ofthe-needle,- the loop of: yarn remains stationary in the shed, but. owing-to the movementof the needlerelative'thereto, the yarn slides through the eye'atthe'same-rate as-the speed of movementof the-needle. If the supplyyarn-were lead'directlyto the needle'from the source of supply, the yarn'would be drawnfrom the source atarate equal-to twicethe-speed of advance of the needle-whiletheneedlewas moving'in'to the shed r-and would not .bedrawnat-all duringthe retractive =movement :of the needle. According to the present invention, atake-upime'chanism 'is provided to draw yarn from .the supply 'ata ratesubstantially equal-to the rate of travel of the needle, :no matter in which direction the needle is moving.

in the arrangement of theapparatus for-giving V v theequal feed in length-of the weft-during the recedingmotion of the needle with that of the advancing motion of the needle for the purpose stated I make use of .means for causing the thread guide '2 torecede andadvaneeat one half the-speed 0f 1 the thread guide-hand. this I efiiect V by securing -thethread guideZ-ona bracket 2!) which is reciprocated upon 'the slide 20 by -:being fixedtoa-belt'or cord 8 whiehencirclesa driving pulley 9 that is operated by apinion Ill which is rotated forward and-backward by atoothed'quadrant H, a lever l2 and crank 53 (Figuresr and 5). Thesaid cranklB-is-mounted to revolve-with a shaft operated by one or other driving shafts of the loom so that said crank is carried through one complete revolution during each of the advancing and receding motions of the needle 3, and such driving cord 8 (as is shown by the drawings) is made to travel over the guide pulleys l5 and l5a to operate the bracket 22) in an even path along the guide-way w.

In like manner the advancing and receding of the needle 3 is effected by another cord or belt it which is made to take around the driving pulley I! so that by said driving pulley I! being fixed upon the spindle of the pinion H) (which is operated by the quadrant H) said cords or belts l5 and IE will always work in unison or simultaneously in the same directions.

This belt or cord i6 is secured to the bracket 4a. and is made to travel over the guide pulleys I8 and l8cv.

By the length of the periphery of the cord or belt driving wheel 9 being only half the length of the periphery of the pulley ll around which the belt I6 takes (in order to be thereby driven) it will be seen that the advancing motions of the needle 3, its guide-eye 4 and the bracket 21) (with its guide-eye 2) will always be in the sam'edirection as each other and that the guide eye 2 will be carried by the bracket 212 through half the distance that the guide-eye 6' is carried.

In the arrangement of the devices shown by Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings (the operations of which are the same as those shown by Figs. 4 and 5) it will be observed that I am enabled to mount the shaft of the driving pinion ill with its pulleys Q and i1 upon the rail 26 of the framework of the machine which may be of an ordinary construction, and this framework couples the end frame 2! of the loom to the outermost end frame 22 which will carry the pulley it around which the driving cord or belt !6 travels. Thus said driving cord or belt IE will operatethe brack et 4a, while the cord or belt which takes around the pu11ey9 and the guide pulleys l5 and 15a may have bearings for said guide pulleys l5 and i511, formed by an extension Zia from the end frame'Zl of the loom and by a vertical bar 23 extending from the rail 25 and an additional rail 24 which forms the guide way for the bracket id. The bar 23 and the extension 2 [o may act as supports for the guide bar 111 on which the bracket 2b travels, the other parts of the operating mechanism being common and well understood.

As an alternative method whereby I can secure the withdrawal of the length of weft from the supply, half by the advancing motion of the needle and the other half by the receding motion of the needle (in each case such withdrawal. being equal to the length of the needle), I may lead the weft yarn from the guide-eye 2 directly to the eye of the needle 3, as indicated inFigures 6 and '7.

When the said guide-eye carried by the needle 3 is dispensed with I now add an additional guide pulley 55b for the weft 5, and the weft in this case is carried from. the eye 2a of the needle 3 through the guide eye 2, back over the guide pulley !5b and reaches forward to the. supply 1., 1 Thus as all the other fittings are similar and operate sim lar- 1y to'th'ose described by reference to l and 5 of the drawings, those devices now shown by Figs. 6 and '1 of the drawings only require the difference in their functions toshow that they have the same effect as those herein first before described.

That is to say, as is shown by Fig. 6, the needle 3 is in its advanced position and therefore its guide-eye 2a with the weft passing through it is at the extreme edge of the fabric being woven, and the thread reaching therefrom to the guideeye 2 will be held by the near edge of the fabric close to the guiding pulley Mia and so will pass through the eye 2 and around the guiding pulley 15b to reach forward to the source of supply '7.

When the needle 3 commences to return, so also does the motion of the bracket 2b commence the return of the guide-eye 2, and as it moves through half the length of the path through which the needle moves, but also at half the speed, it will drag, from the source of supply I, sufficient length of weft to pass over the pulley 15b, around through the guide eye 2 and back to the rear edge of the woven fabric as much length of weft as the full receding action of the needle 3 will require where its eye 2a has reached its stationary position shown by Fig. 7 when said eye recommences its forward movement to insert the double shot of weft through the warp as is here-' inbefore described.

In this advancing from the position shown by Fig. '7 to again reach the position shown by Fig. 6, the needle 3 will drag the weft 5 through the guide eye 2 around the pulley I51) at a rate that will equal the paying out rate of the moving guide eye 2 until said guide eye 2 reaches its position shown by Fig. 6. Thus the additional weft is paid out (by the actions of the guide eye 2) to the advancing needle 3 at an equal rate to the pull of the weft by the guide-eye 2a as it advances. Thus the guide-eye 2 will supply'half the length, while the other half of the length required by the advancing of the needle is made available by the advance of the eye 2, this amount of weft having previously been drawn from the supply during the retractive stroke of the needle' 3 and the guide-eye 2.

Such being the object of my said invention, what I claim is:

1. In weft inserting mechanism of a loom of the type having a needle-weft-carrier, said needle being provided with an eye at its leading end for guiding and carrying the weft, a weft guide mounted upon supports at the rear end of the needle, an additional guide-eye arranged to move at half the rate of speed of the needle and through half the distance, a bracket upon which the added guide-eyeis fixed and with which it moves, and means for reciprocating in step the needle and the bracket upon which the weft carrying eye is fixed.

2. In weft inserting mechanism of a loom of the type having a needle-weft-carrier, said needle being provided with an eye at its leading end for guiding and carrying the weft, an additional guide-eye mounted upon a sliding bracket, a guiding member forming a pathway over which I said bracket can slide, means for operating the bracket over the pathway through half the distance of the space which is traversed by the needle but'moving said guide-eye at half the speed thereof, said means comprising a driving belt or .cord travelling around a driving pulley and guide pulleys as same is operated by means herein described.

3. In weft inserting mechanismof a loom of the type having a needle-weft-carrier, said needle having an eye for the weft near each end thereof, a bracket slidably mounted upon bearings providing a pathway over which it may slide, an additional guide-eye for the weft carried by said bracket, a driving belt or cord with pulley and toothed quadrant operating devices for moving said bracket, a second driving pulley with belt or cord devices operated by the same toothed quadrant to transmit motion to the needle, and crank mechanism for operating said quadrant.

4. In a loom having a weft-inserting needle with an eye in its leading end, means for reciprocating said needle longitudinally, said means including a rock shaft and driving connections between said shaft and needle, an auxiliary guideeye for the weft, and means for reciprocating said guide-eye in a path parallel to said needle simultaneously with movements of said needle but at a lesser speed, said last-named means including said rock shaft and driving connections between said shaft and said guide-eye.

5. In a loom, a rock shaft, a pair of pulley wheels of difierent diameters mounted on said shaft, a longitudinally reciprocable weft-inserting needle, a driving belt operatively connecting said needle with the larger of said wheels, an auxiliary guide-eye for the weft reciprocable in a path parallel to said needle, and a driving belt operatively connecting said guide-eye with the smaller of said wheels.

WILLIAM FELTON. 

